the threat of default is removed and that the continuing harm that these two situations have caused to our economy can stop. >> the president has said from the beginning that he would not negotiate on this. now that it looks like there is a deal, do you feel like he fulfilled that pledge? >> what the president made clear was his position is that he would not allow a situation to develop where he paid ran some to any party in congress that was trying to extract unilateral political concessions in return for congress fulfilling its fundamental responsibilities. and he believes that's the right position for him to take, that it was the right position. it is the right position and it's the right position for presidents of the future to take

because our economy is extremely dependent on the faith and credit that is invested in it by investors around the world. in other words, there is a real even if intangible value to the safeness of investing in the united states and as we've discussed many times over the past days and weeks, threatening that does real harm. and obviously default would cause even more harm, but we've already -- there is already a price that has been paid as we saw in october -- i mean in 2011 and we've seen again now in the various ways that the flirtation with crossing that line and flirting with default has brought about consequences. so he felt and feels that it's the right position to take and again, applauds the leaders of

the senate for coming together and working out a bipartisan solution. >> is there any concern even with this deal being made that a downgrade from some of the credit rating agencies can still be pending? >> well, i would refer to you treasury for those kinds of assessments. i think that we focus on the things we can control, which is calling on congress to quickly act on this compromise agreement and ensure that the government reopens and that the threat of default is removed. >> lastly, this is leading to additional budget talks later this year. once those talks are under way, will the white house, will the president insist that revenue continue to be on the table? >> the president has insisted that in these budget negotiations that he's been calling for all year, everything has to be on the table. and that will be his position

going forward. what he believes is a fair approach to resolving our budget challenges is reflected in the budget he submitted. he knows that even though that was a compromise proposition from the beginning and reflected the offer he made to speaker boehner at the end of last year, that heal not get in a budget negotiation everything he wants, and neither will democrats and neither will republicans. and that's the nature of compromise. but he firmly believes that balance, when it comes to further reducing our deficits and building on the work that has been done over these past four years in which we have reduced our deficits by half, we need to continue to take a balanced approach so that no sector of society unfairly has to bear the brunt of that the project. that's always been his position, and it will be his position moving forward. >> thank you. >> yes. >> reporter: thanks, jay. can you give us a little color

how the president was informed of the deal, who told him, what his reaction was? >> no. >> reporter: none? >> right now, brianna, i think we're looking to capitol hill for action to be taken. the president, as you know, has been in contact with leaders in congress as have members of his team. and we are encouraged by the progress that we've seen. and hope that it is fulfilled through votes in both the senate and the house. >> reporter: can you give us any more about how he was involved in the process? >> well, as i've said, he's been, as you know, he's had meetings with leaders of congress. he's had phone calls with leaders of congress. he invited all members of both houses to the white house. and it is also the case ta we don't inform you of every phone call that he makes. either to members of congress or to others. so he's been enxwajed in this process. his team has been engaged in this process.

ultimately, our position has been consistent and clear, and therefore, not that the complicated to communicate either to you or the public or to congress. we have simply urged all sides to, you know, put down sort of or put aside, you know, the efforts to achieve partisan advantage and leverage and instead, to move forward with an agreement that opens the government and raises the debt ceiling so that the threat of default putt does not hang over us at the time, you know, at this time. >> reporter: the president said yesterday, basically, once this whole mess was resolved, he said once that's dop, you know, the day after i'm going to be pushing to say call a vote on immigration reform. does he really think that a recipe for success on immigration reform is to deal with it right after another divisive issue? >> the president believes that one of the consequences of these

manufactured crises is that time is taken away from the pursuit of other goals that we have as a nation. and that will includes economic goals that go to the heart of his agenda to build -- building a better bargain for the middle class, and it goes also to the project of bringing about legislation that he can sign that comprehensively reforms our immigration system in this country. now, that legislation passed the senate with a significant bipartisan majority. and he absolutely believes that the house ought to take up that legislation and pass it. as we've discussed in recent days, that's not a partisan pursuit. it's the opposite of a partisan pursuit, one, because it requires votes from both parties, and it also would

benefit both parties. >> reporter: does he think pushing it right away increases the chances of yielding a result that he might -- >> i think the president was simply reflecting that unfortunately, even though we've been pushing for comprehensive immigration reform all year long and it's been a major priority, there is no question that the decision by the house to shut the government down and to flirt with default has forced him and everyone in congress to pay attention to those problems and to those crises rather than the many other things that we could and should be working on, and immigration reform is one of them. i don't think -- again, there are many, many proents of comprehensive immigration reform in the republican party and within the broader republican universe. so this is not a -- he's not saying he wants to come out and push some democratic agenda item. he wants to continue the effort that has been under way all year

to try to pass a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would strengthen the economy, help our middle class, reduce the deficit, and make us more competitive in the future. so that is one of the many priorities that he be pushing and he hopes members of congress will be pushing once we can move past these unfortunate and unnecessary crises. >> he thinks he has a better shot to do that right now though? >> again, i don't think that i can sort of place quantitative odds on the prospects of any of this. the congress is a difficult institution to make predictions about. so our view is simply that it's the right thing to do and we're going to push for it. we think there's a strong argument to be made on a whole array of areas when it comes to immigration reform. it's the economically right thing to do.

it's the -- it's the right thing to do when it comes to deficit redukds. it's the right thing to do when it comes to ensuring that the best and the brightest from around the world who come here and get an education stay here and start businesses. it's the right thing to do when it comes to further strengthening our border security. so there's something in that bill for everyone. which is why it's the right thing for america. john. >> reporter: one got to try on phone conversations. when is the last time the president spoke to the speaker of the house? >> i don't have any new conversations to read out to you. as i've noted many times, so don't read anything specific into this, the president has conversations with members of congress that we do not read out in all cases. so at this time, i have no readouts to provide. >> reporter: does the president have an aassurance from the speaker of the house that the house will vote on this? >> i would refer to you the house in terms of actions that the house may or may not take

be. >> reporter: does the president expect the speaker to bring this up for a vote? >> the preds hopes that both houses will act swiftly on this agreement in order to reopen the government and remove the threat of default and this continued bringsmanship from you know, the harm it's causing to this economy. i'm not sure that was a great sentence. i apologize. >> does this agreement represent -- >> i can't even -- the red sox game wasn't even late. i can't blame that. >> reporter: does this agreement -- >> but since i'm speaking about the red sox, how about john lackey, huh? pretty good. >> moving on. >> moving on. >> reporter: does this agreement represent a complete win for the white house? >> there are no winners here. we said that from the beginning, and we're going to say it right up to the end because it's true. the american people have paid a price for this. and nobody who is september here

to washington by the american people can call themselves a winner if the american people have paid a price for what's happened. and the economy has suffered because of it. and it was wholly unnecessary. and let's just remind ourselves, we're not even out of it yet. this is not done. we need action to be taken so that the government can reopen and the threat of default can be removed. >> reporter: the president or in this agreement, is there a little bit of ran some paid? i mean, there is a provision in here that requires verification for recipients of sub ids under the affordable care act. >> the income verification provision to which you refer was negotiated by senate democrats and senate republicans and is a modest adjustment to the existing affordable care act law. we have always said we are willing to make imof promentes and adjustments to the law. ran some would be a wholly different thing. >> its an a little bit of ran some. >> no, not in both sides agree

to it and we support it. we're fine with it. >> okay. very quick to just factual things on the affordable care act. can you give us some updated figures on web traffic? you were very free with this in the first few days. so where are we now? >> here's what i can tell you. today we are two weeks into the implementation of the affordable care act's health insurance marketplace where americans, regardless of their income, job status or age or health status can be access quality affordableal health coverage they can rely on. health care reform is more than a website. across the country, people are getting health insurance. although the glitches are unacceptable, so is the idea of leaving millions of americans on their own, including families is kroo the country who now have access to health care they did not have the two weeks ago. i noted that on one network today, that there was a suggestion that that network could not find a single story of

someone enrolling which was ironic because they're all over the rest of the media including in delaware wear a small business owner found a plan that costs her $150 less than the cost of her previous plan. these are other media reports. not information we're collecting or disseminating. kaiser health news refers to a college student who pay $70 a month the same amount he is currently paying for much broader coverage. he says i'm thrilled to get something this good at that price. in new mexico, a business owner got quoted a policy that will save $1,000 per month. this is the owner of a law firm in new mexico. and i had mentioned some other stories. these arage of the stories that reflect despite the glitches we acknowledge and that absolutely must be fixed, people are getting on and enrolling. they are finding an enornl mus array of options available to

him that will weren't able to them in the past. and we are focused on consumers here and consumers are just regular americans out there who want the option of being able to be buy affordable health insurance. and what we're seeing from the anecdotes that have been reported are that people are finding those options available to them and are excited about them and the volume that we've seen reflects the fact that the interest is extremely high. and you know, that volume continues. i don't have in front of me, maybe i can find it for you, it continues to be extremely high. we have 560,000 calls have been made to the marketplace call center. and i'm sure, i just have a lot of material here. i know that the numbers of people coming to the website remain extremely high. >> you'll get the updated numbers.

>> sure. >> do you have even an estimate for me now? >> we've said repeatedly, john, we will release enrollment figures monthly. i would expect the first figures to come in mid-november. >> thanks. >> jay, i understand what you are saying about there's no winners. clearly the white house and the president wanted to establish a new floorm, knock reopening of the government with what you consider to be partisan legislative attachments, avoiding default with the same approach. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: has that strategy been vindicated and you believe the shutdown was worth that effort to achieve -- >> the shoutdown was wholly unnecessary. and this was a manufactured crisis. the president's position from the beginning was that congress ought to pass a continuing resolution at existing funding levels. he made no requests associated

with that, demanded no concessions in return for signing of legislation that would extend government funding to allow for broader budget negotiations. so -- >> but you did want to push back on the kaye that you could use either one of these deadlines as leverage. >> the president believes its the right position to take and remains the right position to take that especially when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states that neither he nor any of his successors can allow a dynamic to take root where raising the debt ceilinging is used as leverage or the refusal to raise the debt ceilinging is used as leverage to try to achieve some partisan policy objective. >> do you believe this now settles that question? >> again, we don't have a bill to sign. so we're mot in a position here to even say that the government

has been reopened or the debt ceiling has been lifted. so i think hopefully when we do, we can have a fuller discussion about what comes next. i don't want to get ahead of where we are today. we are pleased with the progress made in the senate and the agreement announced by leaders reid and mcconnell today, and very much appreciate the bipartisan effort under way in the senate that reflects, we believe, a model for how we can move forward. and after all, had has only been about basic stuff. funding the government, making sure the united states pays its bills. we will have, hopefully, serious recent substantive negotiations around a broader budget agreement. and in that process hopefully there will be willingness to compromise by both sides.

perhaps we can reach a broader budget agreement that will settle some of these disputes in a way where nobody gets everything he or she wants, but the american people win because there is increased certainty and necessary investments to help our economy grow and protect and expand the middle class. and you know, that's what we seek here. those are goals that really have been and can be shared by members of both parties. >> reporter: those negotiations in a second. can the country anticipate hearing from the president when this process finishes itself on capitol hill? >> i don't have any scheduling announcements to make when it comes to the president. obviously, he's been very much engaged in this and has spoken publicly about it rather frequently. so we'll have to see once we have a resolution as to you know, what format his first comments about it will take. >> reporter: logistically is it

important once the lemglation is completed that it get over here right away to avoid this scenario that the treasury secretary laid out or do you think there's some time, 24, 48 hours, it's not an urgent matter that the legislation get here? >> i think that the uncertainty that has all right already been created has cause d harm to our economy and i'm just citing the financial press in saying that. this is not some inside information. we know it based on what's been report the. so as soon as possible is the approach is the ask that we're making of congress, act swiftly. you know, the problem with reaching the debt ceiling, the problem with reaching that date beyond which the united states no longer has the authority to borrow new money is that it is uncharted territory. i would point you to what secretary lew and others have

said about this and urge congress to act swiftly. >> is it it the highest priority of the white house to redraw sequestration? >> the president has many priorities reflected in his budget. i think the the preds believes we ought to set budget policy in a way that makes wise choices about how we invest and sequester definitely does not fit the bill on that because it was sort of mindless across the board cuts by design that took away from lawmakers and policymakers the ability to make wise choices about how we fund our government and what investments we make so that the economy can grow and what programs provide the best bang for the taxpayer dollar when it

comes to growth and job creation. so we certainly -- >> from august about you know, we need to invest and we're not going to be so obsessed with deficit reduction. it's important, but we're going to try to deal with other investments. you take those speeches throughout august, this agreement, push it up to january 15th when the next later sequestration really begin to bite in a new and fundamentally different way. it would be fair to deduce it's important to redraw those numbers. >> i don't think it's all about sequester. the president's budget has savings that eliminate the sequester and exceed it when it comes to deficit reduction. so it is clearly his belief, a belie belief shared by many republicans that the cuts cuts created by sequester are done with a clear of instead of a scalpel and they will there be do harm unnecessarily to various

aspects of our government and our economy. and we ought to do better. we ought to come together and negotiate a broader budget agreement in which everybody can agree on where to cut, how to reduce the deficit, where to invest and plus up some programs because they're good for the economy and good for the middle class, good for educating our children and investing in our future. and from that, we can you know, strengthen the foundation that we've built already for economic growth in the future. >> reporter: jay, on the following a question about the strategy of not negotiating over fault, during the campaign, the president also talked about if he won the election, he would break in republican fever to sort of not work with him. with this deal, do you think he's made any progress in breaking that fever or vr ted cruz and other republicans kind of driven both sides further

apart? >> it's a great question. i think it's fair to say that you know, the experience that we've all had demonstrates that the kind of hyper partisanship that was a rob in the past, essentially in one house, has -- continues to be a challenge. and that when pursued, at the expense of good governance and the american people, it does harm to our economy and just causes dysfunction here in washington. you know, it's a way of asking, a good way but a way of asking the same question that was asked before, which is how do we -- what odds do we set on cooperation and bipartisan compromise in the future. i don't think we would put odds on that. we would simply hope this experience if and when it's over, would remind all of us here that these kinds of crises

only create harm to the american people and to the american economy. there are costs that have already been incurred because of shutdown, because of the flirtation with default, and they're not retrievable. so we ought to instead focus on making progress instead of, you know, creating all this unnecessary conflict. but whether or not, you know, this experience will lead to different choices in the future is really a question for members of congress. >> reporter: on the last part of ted cruz, i know you guys don't like to comment on him directly, but him and whoever supports him, have they been -- do you think they've driven people apart? do you think there's any room for compromise when you talked about moving forward from this?

>> well, that again, i completely legitimate questions. i think that you know, these are questions that can be best answered by republicans in both houses. the -- what we know is that the strategy that was pursued shut the government down, caused harm to the economy and to the american people, kept people out -- a lot of people out of, would, has kept a lot of people out of work. i should very much refrain from using the past tense here and has brought us already to the brink of breaching the debt ceiling. so -- and it certainly doesn't seem, based on my arm chair analysis,ing to have won any of the adherence to that approach anything substantive. so i would simply say that -- but i think it's important to note that the voices calling for a reasonable approach and for compromise have been both

democratic and republican. there is a, i think, large constituency of conservative republicans who you know, believe that it's not right for the american people and american economy to take an all or nothing approach. and we've heard those voices. and some of the republicans who have expressed that opinion are the ones who have been very helpful in the senate in helping bring about the agreement that was announced today. >> reporter: thank you for trying to answer the republican side. >> i didn't really about you. >> >> reporter: well, you tried. but let me ask you, ache a final crack at it from the president's perspective. one of the interviews he did yesterday with wabc in new york he said the problem is that speaker boehner gets weakened every time he negotiates with the president. he gets an agreement with them. then boehner goes back and "can't control his caucus." if we accept that premise, i suspect the boehner people might

push back, let's accept the president's premise, question very simple. what is the solution? does the president want a new speaker? does the president think there's something he can add, some new approach he can bring? you said the american people paid a price from this debate. has the president with three years ago, have the republican leaders paid a price? i think again, everyone pays a price for you know, the failure to function here in washington. so on that question, the answer i think the is pretty clear. on -- i think what the president was saying in that interview is reflected by what we've all seen over the past several years and many of you have reported which is that even when there has been a sincere willingness in our view by republican leaders to try to find a compromise on some of these broader budget issues, there has not been the support for leadership to consummate those potential agreements.

and i think that is a bland statement of the obvious. so -- and that mass played out a number of times. i think as i've said many times. >> the president has a good relationship with speaker boehner. i'm not trying to harm him by saying that, and believes that speaker boehner has in their negotiations over the years sincerely wanted to or tried to find a compromise. and when it comes to you know, moving forward, the president is going to take the same approach with the same open mindedness about compromise that he has in the past and he hopes that there will be leaders and rank and file members of the republican party willing to meet him halfway and reach a deal that does good for our economy and for our people. >> thank you. the president recently from that podium apologized to the american people for having to put up with government by crisis. i think you've addressed this in some form. why today given the fact that this is such a short-term deal should americans have any faith that any broader deal can be

achieved by this president and this congress within 90 days? >> that's a fair question. i think that, again, there seems to be an openness not just by democrats but by republicans to trying to forge a compromise on our broader budget issues. whether how big that agreement would be be will depend on how the negotiations go. but the president has sought that kind of broughter compromise and certainly democrats have sought it and there are republicans who seek it. so perhaps this will create an opportunity to finally reach a broader agreement that invests in areas of the economy that need to be invested in and that makes smart and balanced choices about further reducing our deficit. >> reporter: does the president have any regrets about anything

relating to his management of these simultaneous crises that may have created this situation we're in? what would be had his number one regret from his position? >> i think the president's position has been pretty clear. i well, let me get to -- in this -- these twos manufactured crises we've been dealing with in the last several weeks, the president made clear what his view was, that he was asking for nothing in return for congress doing its job, no concessions demanded on his part. made clear he believed shutting the government down and threatening default would only doll harm to the american people and the american economy. i think he believes that that was the right position to take and continues to be the right position to take and he is very optimistic or hopeful that the agreement announced today can be moved through cook res so that we can get beyond these crises. i think it's fair to say as the

president has said that what happened in 2011 was you know, created the precedent here that that was so importanto avoid in 2013 and that the willingness at the time to try to to link the debt ceiling issue absolutely need for congress to ensure that america pays its bills around policy demands by the republicans did real harm. those i think are lessons we all learned. there's no question as we debated in the past, in previous years, you know, legislation to increase the debt ceiling has been attached to different bills and discussed within the context of budget and other policy negotiations but the concrete willingness toe default and threaten default is not something we had ever seen until 2011 and the economy paid a price as a result. i this i we all, including the

president, learned lessons from that. >> already some businesses are reaping out to contract employees and others preparing this em to come back to work as early as tomorrow. has the white house done anything to have its speier -- entire staff back in position? >> not that i'm aware of. >> when asked if you are confident the house will pass this agreement you said you're not going to put odds on anything. is there anything that the president is doing today to try and move this forward either on the house or senate side? >> again, the president has been in regular communication with congressional leaders. i don't have any specific conversations to read out. his team has been in regular communication with congressional leaders and their staffs. and i'm not expressing skept skeptici

skepticism. it's not done. we call on congress quickly to pass legislation that the president can sign so that we can reopen the government and remove the threat of default that has been looming over us for so many days now. yes. >> reporter: so investors are holding $120 billion in treasury bills coming due tomorrow. >> you get the sense that bloomberg is asking a question? >> should they still be worried that they're not going to be paid? >> i would refer you to treasury. i would simply say that the borrowing authority of the united states, the treasury has under current law is exhausted at the end of the day tomorrow as the treasury secretary has made clear repeatedly. beyond that, if there's not a resolutioning to this, and the debt ceiling isn't lifted, then we have a cash on hand situation when it comes to meeting our obligations. for more on that, i refer to you the building down the street. >> reporter: and given that the

agreement only extends the debt ceiling to february 7th, why should investors not anticipate that they'll be in this economic little precarious position four months from now? >> i'd say a couple of things. one, the agreement includes retaining the abilities of the treasury secretary to exercise extraordinary measures which is important because we need to have that cushion against the prospect of a potential ca unwillingness by congress to raise the debt ceiling pds hope to there was some discussion at various stages of this debate about removing those authorities but that should not give anybody any false security. i would simply say that it is important that those authorities be retained. secondly, going to questions i got from the front row, we can only hope that this experience and the experience everyone 2011

is informative to members of congress when it comes to the absolute necessity to ensure that the united states can always pay its bills on time without drama or delay because. >> so there you have jay carney. we get the gist of what he's been saying now for about 40 minutes or so. jay carney, the white house press secretary welcoming this deal that the republican and democratic leaders in the united states senate announced a little while ago, a deal that would end the government shutdown and extend, raise the nation's debt ceiling. only end the government shutdown at least till january 15 24, raise the nation's debt ceiling till february 7th. so there's no long-term commitment to continue this process but in the meantime, the process will allow house and senate representatives to begin some serious budget negotiations presumably might be able to get some long-term agreements on

that front. whatever is passed in the senate still has to be passed in the house of representatives. carney expressing hope that the senate and house would pass this legislation quickly, get it to the president. the president would then sign it into law. hundreds of thousands federal workers would be able to go back to work right away and start getting paid and critically important functions of the u.s. government would resume. we're going to continue our special coverage right after this.

where do we go from here now that the senate is poised to pass legislationening the government shutdown, raising the nation's debt ceiling? let's bring inning democratic congressman chris van hollen, the ranking minority member of the house budget committee. thanks very much for coming in. >> great to be with you. >> so i'm sure you're very happy with what the senate is about to do. just walk us through the process a little bit because that process is important top

hundreds of thousands of workers. will they get reinstated today on the job or tomorrow or a day after that? what's your understanding? does the senate vote first on the legislation, hen the house votes or does the house vote first and then the senate? >> yes, wolf, you're right. this is important to hundreds of thousands of workers and, of course, important to the whole country. things have been changing minute to minute around here. my best understanding is the current plan is for the senate to go first. the senate would actually have to take up a house bill that's in the senate, put the agreement into the house bill, and then it would be subject to some potential engs procedural hurdles. now i understand that senator cruz has said ta he's not going to delay that. we'll have to see. and then of course, when that bill comes over to the house -- probably later this evening, the speaker boehner would have to bring it up on the floor of the house. hopefully, that all happen

before midnight tonight and we can put an end to this very sad and unnecessary ma chapter in congressional history. >> i know the speaker john boehner is meeting with his republican colleagues in the house at 3:00 p.m. eastern. what do you anticipate? is he going to allow whatever passes the senate to come up for a vote, a yea or nay vote on the floor of the house of representatives without any further amends, changes, other alterations? >> wolf, i certainly hope so because the alternative is not only a continued government shutdown, but defaulting on our debt because as we all know, as we head into tomorrow, we're really already running on empty in terms of the monies in the treasury to keep up with our debt obligations. so that's the fundamental choice that we've been facing in this congress all along is the speaker going to stand up to the really reckless faction within his party in order to do the right thing for the country.

i certainly believe so. i hope so. i believe he's made that decision, but again, around here, we find out that thing have changed minute to minute. this morning we thought this process might actually begin in the house. now it seems that it's going to begin in the senate. >> it probably will begin in the senate. especially now that senator cruz and colleagues say they're going to let it go forward without any procedural roadblocks. talk to me about one aspect of the deal that house and senate budget conferrees would begin discussions to come up with some sort of agreement by mid-december long-term on the budget. i assume as the ranking member of the house budget committee, you'll be one of those conferees. explain what all of this means in layman's terms to our viewers out there. is there any penalty if you don't come up with an dreemt by december 13th? >> well, wolf, i certainly hope

we can come up with an agreement but the answer is, there's no specific penalty if you don't. what happened is back in march, march of this year, the house passed a budget, the republican budget, and the senate passed a budget. and since march -- we've been trying to go to a budget negotiation with our republican republican colleagues. three times here in the house, speaker boehner blocked the appointment of negotiators and 20 times, senator cruz blocked the appointment in the senate. it is progress now we're actually finally going to the budget table because it is obviously very hard to get an agreement if people refuse to talk. we're glad we're now going to open this dialogue, the discussion will be between the two budgets. you've got a comprehensive house republican budget. >> you'd you've got a comprehensive senate budget. there are deep differences between those budgets in terms of priorities. we've been trying to get

together so we can compromise on those budgets as i said since march. i hope our colleagues are now ready to do that. >> senator patty murray, the chairman of the senate budget committee, paul ryan the chairman of the house budget committee will lead these is negotiations. you'll be involved, other senators, representatives will be involved, as well. here's my fear. as much as there's good intention right now, if you guys don't come up with a budget agreement acceptable to the house and the senate, are we going to have to go through this same crisis in january and february once again? >> well, two things, wolf. first of all, one of the important i think lessons that came out of what we've seen just now is that nobody should try to exact their demands on budget issues by threatening to shutdown the government or threatening to stop the u.s. from paying its bills. we hope in the future people

have learned this terrible lesson from what we're seeing right now. nobody should be threatening government shutdown or default on our debt if they can't get their way in a negotiation. that's number one. number two, i very much hope that we can have a negotiation. there are lots of bipartisan groups that have provided a model for the way forward when it comes both to job acceleration and also long-term deficit reduction. simpson-bowles, domenici all groups said if you want to tackle your long-term deficit sit challenge, you've got to look at cutting and closing tax loopholes, getting rid of tax breaks and through that balanced combination, you can achieve that long-term deficit reduction which is good for the economy in the wrong run. i should emphasize we also think it's important to do what we can to accelerate job growth now. and that means replacing the see

questions fer and investing more in our national infrastructure and those areas that are important to maintain our competitive edge. >> those are going to be tough challenges given a lot of your political opponents where they stand on those issues, as well. >> we will be naming budget negotiators later today as part of this agreement. so you will see that announcement in the house and senate later today. >> i assume you'll be one of them, right? >> i will be up with of the house budget negotiators, yes. >> good luck. >> i very much hope that we can bridge some of these differences and get something done. >> we're counting on you and your democratic and republican colleagues to get this done. it's a tough challenge. you've got till december 13th to do it. let's see if that deadline forces you guys to come up with an agreement. that would be nice. thanks very much, chris van hollen is the democrat from maryland. so how do house republicans feel about the senate's deal to raise the debt ceiling and the partial government shutdown? we'll hear from not one but two

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harper. thanks very much for coming in. congressman harper, first to you. assuming the senate passes this and by all accounts they will, now that mitch mcconnell and harry reid are aboard. if how will you vote, congressman? >> thanks, wolf. look, i don't think we can flirt around with disaster on the debt ceiling and while this doesn't have anywhere near what i would like to have in it, i will be voting yes because we have a lot of seniors, people that are dependent upon their pensions, other issues that are there. and we are pleased that we're going to have the income verification and the fact that this will go to the budget coniferees to hopefully address some of the real problems of the out of control spending we have seen out of this administration. >> it does continue, the spending, at least until january at the reduced level, the so-called sequestration level that other republicans wanted

and some democrats. a lot of democrats not happy, they wanted greater spending. i'll ask you the same question, congressman pitinger. how will you vote when this comes before you on the house floor? >> wolf, i haven't seen the legislation yet, but i will say this is a two or three-month temporary fix. the issue right now on the floor is what do we do about long-term spending, the dent, $17 trillion, $60 trillion in unfunded mandates. it's been disingenuous to me, while the president, he gave a speech in 2006, his speech lambasting president bush for having a $5 trillion debt and he didn't want to raise the d.ebt ceili ceiling. we have to address this, whether you talk to paul ryan or erskin bolls. they're all going to tell you, unless we address the spending

trajectory of the country, we're going to fiscally collapse. >> let me follow up on that point. do you have confidence that paul ryan, the chairman of the house budget committee, will be able to -- he's going to be the house leader on this negotiation that's supposed to continue through december 13th. how senate budget conferees will deal with some of the issues you're talking about. patty murphy will lead the senate democrats in this conference committee negotiation. do you think they'll be able to make progress between now and that target date of december 17th? >> paul is one of the brightest people on capitol hill. i think he has put forth a very thoughtful, prudent plan to balance our budget in ten years. that's what we need to be about. that needs to be the focus. we need an economy that grows and creates jobs. we have anemic job growth.

we have still large unemployment. we have the ability to move the economy along, but it takes a growing economy, it takes one where you have real spending that's in line with what your revenue is. you know, if you take in about $2.5 trillion, $3 trillion and spend $3 trillion, you have a problem. >> those are all important issues. congressman harper, let me bring you back in. you're going to vote in favor of it, and i'm still unclear if congressman harp -- pitinger is going to vote in favor, but you're at least pleased the u.s. is going to pay all its financial obligations between now and february and that people are not going to have to worry about getting their social security benefits, veterans are not going to have to worry about getting their checks in the mail. and all the other expenditures that are so critically important to your constituents out there, congressman harper, you're not worried about at least between now and january or february, those folks having problems? >> well, wolf, i'm not at all

happy about the overall deal, but you're right. we can't really run the risk of having the nation go into default, having interest rates go up, other issues. so this gives us a temporary window for everybody to kind of calm down. quit trying to score political points, and let's go and discuss what are the real issues, which is the mandatory spending. you mentioned on the sequester issue, remember, that was the president's idea. however, both the house and the senate republicans and democrats signed onto that, hoping it would never happen, but we have had for the first time since the korean war, two consecutive years of a decrease in overall federal spending and we can't keep spending at this level or going into debt the way we have done under this administration. i look forward to seeing what the budget coniferees can do. i know paul ryan has been certainly an adult in the room, and i believe he'll try to move us in the right direction. >> so you'll vote in favor. all right, congressman pitinger,

are you going to vote in favor or against it once it passes and get the government working once again 100%? >> well, wolf, unlike speaker pelosi, i want to read the bill before i vote for it. i'm going to read it and then i'll let you know. we do need to put together a plan, and that will give us two or three months to hopefully bring common sense into the room where we can address the long-term critical issues of this country. mr. obama, in his inauguration, he never brought up the dent. in the state of the union, he never brought up the debt. when he came to meet with house republicans, he never brought up the debt. he said the deficits weren't that big of a concern to him. where do you start? we have to start with a clear understanding that we have to get our fiscal house in order. >> same question to both of you, i'll start with pitinger, congressman pitinger, do you have confidence in the speaker, john boehner? >> absolutely.

he's a man of great integ receivy. i appreciate his honesty, his demeanor. he's been called all kinds of names in the process by the other side, and he was a gentleman. he kept his cool and he did the right thing. >> congressman harper? >> i don't think we could have a better speaker under more difficult circumstances than we have here. he's not in an enviable position, but he's certainly believes in regular order. he stood strong and so i'm honored that he would be our speaker. >> all right, guys. i appreciate both of you joining us. do you have any idea when you're going to have that vote, either one of you? >> wolf, we would expect now that it would happen after the senate votes, so i would think some time this evening. >> then you guys get out of town, is that right? >> we haven't been told that yet, wolf. >> we'll wait for that. it's not a bad idea. >> we'll be staying in close touch with both of you. a quick break. more news right after this.

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that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." "newsroom" continues, a special edition right now with brooke baldwin and jake tapper. wolf, thank you very much. you're watching cnn's special coverage of the countdown to the debt ceiling deadline. we want to take a moment to welcome you, our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm jack taper here on capitol hill. october 16th. the nation is on the edge of a possible default. >> oh, yes. as we look at the calendar, we remember all of the assurances, the promises that both the house and the senate would get their acts together at crunch time, and it appears the senate is now really taking the wheel. so right now, in this beautiful